On The Appalling Tactics Of The Monroe County Sheriff's Office

by Chris Chichester on 08/30/17

On August 9 I am introduced to two deputies from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Involuntarily. It is a gratuitous confrontation created by an attorney with a disgraceful inability to comprehend police power jurisdiction.

I live at 26 Sanders Farm Drive in Penfield. For five years I've walked my shih tzu behind my house. The property travels downward and it is a collection of weeds, bushes and rocks. A major excavation is required for a construction project. No thinking person will ever confuse it with Oak Hill Country Club. This barren property is owned by The Shah Law Firm at 2041 Penfield Road. I was unaware of such ownership. Until now.

On August 9 I walked my dog. As I returned to my residence a female employee at The Shah Law Firm began to scream at me from a back window. I was approximately 50 yards away. This undisciplined and hysterical woman did not possess the civility to exit the firm and address me directly. I did not understand her language. Because incoherent screaming from an individual at a distance renders no understanding possible.

Approximately 30 minutes later two Monroe County Sheriff's deputies knocked on my front door. When I opened the door I immediately observed next to the Sheriff's vehicle is the animal control vehicle. The deputies demanded I surrender my dog with belligerent, unprofessional rhetoric. I refused -- and instructed each deputy that the only way to remove my dog from my residence is to violently overpower me.

This is a vicious confrontation. As I spoke to the deputies a second Monroe County Sheriff's vehicle arrived at my residence. I was shocked at the immediate demonstration of force because I walked my dog routinely as I have done for the past 1,500+ days and nights.

I ordered the deputies to leave my residence. The deputies began to depart. Yet one deputy is compelled to declare: "We're going to get a warrant and come back to take your dog."

For a sheriff's deputy to threaten the execution of a warrant to seize my dog is an appalling abuse of power and language. A warrant is issued most commonly by a court in the furtherance of a criminal investigation or other behavior that presents an imminent danger to the citizenry. I am not a danger to any one. My dog is not a danger to any one. No human being in our Empire State is imperiled when my dog is leashed under my control.

"Only judges and magistrates may issue search warrants. In Coolidge v. Hampshire, while laying down that a warrant issued by the state attorney general, the Court stated that the key is that a warrant must be issued by a neutral and detached magistrate capable of determining whether probable cause exists. Therefore, to obtain a warrant, law enforcement officers must show that there is probable cause to believe a search is justified. Officers must support this showing with sworn statements (affidavits), and must describe in particularity the place they will search and the items they will seize. "

How does my Sheriff's office obtain a warrant given this high evidentiary standard? I want to meet the judge or magistrate that must listen to:

"Your honor we request permission for approval of a warrant to search the residence at 26 Sanders Farm Drive in Penfield in order to seize the occupant's shih tzu AKA Boom Boom."

My neighbor is a witness to this appalling police behavior. He is disgusted by the language and the arrogant comportment exhibited by the two deputies. In fact, every New Yorker who believes law enforcement officials must always uphold the integrity of the public square can conclude that it's an abuse of the police power.

After the two deputies departed I immediately called the Sheriff's Office. I spoke to Captain David Delgudio. He was a complete professional and an excellent representation for how our dedicated law enforcement officials must communicate with the public. Captain Delgudio assured me that my dog is in no jeopardy of confiscation. As I have done nothing that violates the law or civility or decency.

After I spoke to Captain Delgudio I entered The Shah Law Firm to question the screaming woman. She is presumably the individual responsible for calling the Sheriff's office. This unbalanced desk jockey refused to speak to me with the same belligerence she exhibited from the firm window. Since she understands there is no rationale, logical or coherent explanation for why 911 is dialed. I left, and I concluded the professional decorum at this pathetic, insignificant firm is at the level of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I've never been arrested, charged, convicted of a single crime in my entire 52 years. Yet I found myself in a direct, intense confrontation with two Monroe County's Sheriff's deputies because of an attorney incapable of determining the difference between right and wrong. This attorney Neeraj L. Shah represents a claque of society that is sick.

Did these two incompetent deputies interview Shah before charging over to my residence like I'm the criminal mastermind of Penfield? Was Shah asked to describe the purpose of his call? Has Shah previously contacted the Sheriff's Office or other law enforcement for his own aggrandizement? The attorney dialing 911 because of a dog walker is a malfunctioning member of the bar in search of an investigation.

The appropriate decision for this unstable Shah character is to knock on my door. It takes approximately sixty seconds to make the walk to my residence. Instead the choice is made to involve deputies sworn to an oath to pursue violent, degenerate criminals dedicated to havoc in our state.

I've filed a complaint with the Monroe County Bar Association and New York State Bar Association about The Shah Law Firm. This firm does not possesses the ethics, rectitude and moral standing to represent a single client.

I adopted my dog from Lollypop Farm Humane Society in 2011. I wanted a dog nobody wanted. I picked my dog after a thorough process that included an interview. You are not provided the freedom to adopt a dog because you want to adopt. The employees and volunteers are dedicated to a vetting process that ensures the future protection and care of every dog at the Society. On that day I did not know the modus operandi of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office is to harass and threaten a private, law-abiding citizen at the behest of a fanatic.